{"title":"The role of vagal nerve stimulation on psychosocial associated disorders in refractory epilepsy patients.","authors":"Mohamed Abdul Jalil Al-Tamimi","doi":"10.47391/JPMA-BAGH-16-37","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To determine the effects of vagal nerve stimulation on cognition and epilepsy-associated psychosocial problems in patients with intractable epilepsy, and to assess their relation to seizure decline.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The longitudinal study was conducted at Saad Al-Witry Neurosciences Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq, from December 2015 to December 2020, and comprised refractory epilepsy cases with implanted vagal nerve stimulation devices. They were subjected to pre- and post-implantation epilepsy protocol assessment with added neuropsychological evaluation using the Mini-Mental State Examination system. Each case was followed up for 2 years post-implantation. Descriptive data regarding patient records of age, seizure nature, mental functioning level, and vagal nerve stimulation insertion was noted. Data was analysed using SPSS 21.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of the 150 patients, 75(50%) each were males and females, with 70(46.7%) aged <10 years at the time of surgery. Overall, 80(53.3%) patients had partial seizures with secondary generalisation, 70(46.7%) had refractory seizure attacks for <5 years, 78(52%) had attack frequency of 2-5 per day. All 150(100%) patients had had vagal nerve stimulation for >2 years. Post-intervention, 80(53.3%) patients had <2 attacks per day. Mini-Mental State Examination score was >25 in 35(23.3%) patients which post-intervention rose to 64(42.7%).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>There was evidence of improvement with respect to patient characteristics predictive of vagal nerve stimulation-related cognition and neuropsychological responsiveness in refractory epilepsy.</p>","PeriodicalId":54369,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association","volume":"74 10 (Supple-8)","pages":"S168-S171"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.47391/JPMA-BAGH-16-37","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: To determine the effects of vagal nerve stimulation on cognition and epilepsy-associated psychosocial problems in patients with intractable epilepsy, and to assess their relation to seizure decline.
Methods: The longitudinal study was conducted at Saad Al-Witry Neurosciences Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq, from December 2015 to December 2020, and comprised refractory epilepsy cases with implanted vagal nerve stimulation devices. They were subjected to pre- and post-implantation epilepsy protocol assessment with added neuropsychological evaluation using the Mini-Mental State Examination system. Each case was followed up for 2 years post-implantation. Descriptive data regarding patient records of age, seizure nature, mental functioning level, and vagal nerve stimulation insertion was noted. Data was analysed using SPSS 21.
Results: Of the 150 patients, 75(50%) each were males and females, with 70(46.7%) aged <10 years at the time of surgery. Overall, 80(53.3%) patients had partial seizures with secondary generalisation, 70(46.7%) had refractory seizure attacks for <5 years, 78(52%) had attack frequency of 2-5 per day. All 150(100%) patients had had vagal nerve stimulation for >2 years. Post-intervention, 80(53.3%) patients had <2 attacks per day. Mini-Mental State Examination score was >25 in 35(23.3%) patients which post-intervention rose to 64(42.7%).
Conclusions: There was evidence of improvement with respect to patient characteristics predictive of vagal nerve stimulation-related cognition and neuropsychological responsiveness in refractory epilepsy.
期刊介绍:
Primarily being a medical journal, JPMA publishes scholarly research focusing on the various fields in the areas of health and medical education. It publishes original research describing recent advances in health particularly clinical studies, clinical trials, assessments of pathogens of diagnostic importance, medical genetics and epidemiological studies. Review articles highlighting importance of various issues in the domain of public health, drug research and medical education are also accepted. As a leading journal of South Asia, JPMA remains cognizant of the recent advances in the rapidly growing fields of biomedical sciences, it invites and encourages scholars to write short reviews and invited editorials on the emerging issues. We particularly aim to promote health standards of developing countries by encouraging manuscript submissions on issues affecting the public health and health delivery services.